BOGOTA, Colombia –The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) urges coffee producers to control the incidence of coffee berry borer throughout El Niño. The plague multiplies during dry seasons and has a harmful impact on fruits and plantations.
The fact that coffee berry borer can survive for up to 150 days in dry fruits is extremely problematic. Rain during the months of April and May will spread the presence of the plague to the ripe fruits of the first semester’s harvest and to the green fruits of the second semester’s harvest.
The FNC’s Extension Service has discovered significant damage in harvested fruits in post-harvesting facilities. Antioquia, Caldas, Huila, Quindío, Risaralda, Tolima and Valle del Cauca have reported the highest incidence of coffee berry borer among coffee growing departments.
Prevention Measures
Coffee growers should follow strict harvesting procedures and collect all of the fruits that remain in trees. Similarly, inferior quality beans and byproducts resulting from the post-harvesting process should be “solarized” (placed under the sun on a tray or recipient and covered with plastic).
This process guarantees the eradication of the different biological stages of the plague and prevents its return to the plantations.
It’s also essential to avoid that fruits fall to the ground. Coffee berry borers from infected fruits can attack healthy fruits that fall. Borer populations in these fruits will, in turn, infest the fruits that will be harvested during the second semester.
Finally, coffee growers should practice the technique known as repase.
It consists of collecting the dry, ripe, and overripe beans from the trees and from the ground, immediately after the main harvesting period concludes, and two to three weeks after.
Repase is one of the most effective mechanisms against coffee berry borer.
